Brothers and sisters, I would that your prayer life be potent and effectual. May James 5:16 be a good description of your prayers, The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
However, we know from the Scriptures that our prayers can miss the mark. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly (James 4:3).
Lately I have noticed a number of people who claim to be believers praying in a manner that does not have a biblical foundation. Let me begin by simply quoting a prayer I have seen multiple times on social media. It goes like this,
Lord, I’m crying out and lifting up our children and grandchildren. Praying for Divine protection over them. God, You loaned them to us and I declare and decree that NO weapon formed against them shall prosper! I cancel every assignment of the enemy that seeks to destroy them. Open doors for them that no man can close and close doors that no man can open.I plead the Blood of Jesus over them… they SHALL live and not die and declare the works of The Lord in the land of the living! They SHALL be successful, They SHALL prosper, They Will/SHALL receive favor in abundance! I boldly anticipate and decree & declare it done, in the Mighty Name of Jesus!!! Amen
This prayer begins well by making a good request of the Lord. But then it morphs into what can only be described as the praying person switching places with God. And that is not a good thing.
The initial request is a prayer of protection to the Lord for our children and grandchildren. Great! Keep praying for that. But stop at that point with this prayer.
The first danger in this prayer are the words I declare and decree. In a prayer relationship we do well to remember the two parties involved. The greater party is the Lord to whom we pray. We, the praying people, are the lesser party. The lesser party does not do the declaring and decreeing. That is the role of the King.
How audacious it is to decree anything to the Lord!
He is the Holy One. We are the sinners.
He is the Creator. We are the creatures.
He is the Master. We are the servants.
He is the King. We are the subjects.
He is the Father. We are the sons and daughters.
He is God! We are not!
After the initial request for divine protection, notice the dominant pronoun used in the remainder of the prayer,
I declare and decree
I cancel every assignment of the enemy that seeks to destroy them.
I plead the Blood of Jesus (We’ll have to talk about this one later.).
I boldly anticipate and decree & declare it done.
Also note the power that “I” has,
Opened doors cannot be closed.
Closed doors cannot be opened.
They SHALL live and not die.
They SHALL be successful.
They SHALL prosper.
They Will/SHALL receive favor in abundance.
The big question is what is the Lord to do with this prayer? The human being has already decreed and declared it done. It is really as if the praying man or woman is praying to themself.
Why do some Christians pray like this? They have been influenced by men like Kenneth Copeland and Creflo Dollar. These are today’s disciples of E.W. Kenyon in the Word of Faith Movement. Let’s just say that these men are in error about this kind of prayer.
Instead of praying like this, come before your Sovereign Lord and make your requests in keeping with His will. Come as a child to his Heavenly Father. You don’t tell him what to do. You ask. And you let him answer as he chooses.
So if you want to use that prayer, here are the appropriate parts,
Lord, I’m crying out and lifting up our children and grandchildren. Praying for Divine protection over them in the Mighty Name of Jesus!!! Amen.